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BEIJING — #Squadgoals. It may have been an understatement for the group that Breitling put together here one evening in late November, with actors Brad Pitt, Daniel Wu, photographer Peter Lindbergh, and surfing champion Sally Fitzgibbons rubbing shoulders at the Phoenix Center.
The Grenchen, Switzerland-based watch house was pulling out the stops for the Chinese capital, although up until quite recently, such a night would have been implausible. China had been the elephant in the room, or rather, the elephant not in the room for the watch brand. Despite its long history dating back to 1884 and how its luxury rivals had quickly clamored to reach the lucrative Chinese consumer, Breitling had not made many inroads into the country.
Enter Georges Kern, who arrived last year as its chief executive officer. A luxury watch industry star, Kern had just been promoted at Compagnie Financiere Richemont to the group’s head of watchmaking after a 15-year career leading IWC Schaffhausen through a turnaround when he jumped to join the CVC Capital-majority-owned Breitling.
With one successful watch house transformation already under his belt, Kern has set about to do the same for Breitling. Among the changes: he’s beefed up the star power of its celebrity brand ambassadors, a reflection of